The Dax Xenos character (played by Bekim Fehmiu) is a thinly veiled portrait of Dominican diplomat/playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, and the Candice Bergen character is based on Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. Other characters in the film are also based on real people.
Although often considered to be a major flop, the film was actually the 11th most popular movie at the U.S. box office in 1970.
The South American country of Corteguay does not exist. However, much of the film was shot in Colombia and many of the events pictured in the film parallel events that happened in Colombia's history.
Publicity suggested that Harold Robbins had sold the film rights to his novel to producer Joseph E. Levine (for $1 million) before he had actually written any of it. Levine was said to have been persuaded simply by the title, which Robbins had come up with before working out a plot to go with it. A persistent legend claims that Robbins had shown Levine a few chapters of the book and, when Levine had excitedly asked what happened next, replied that he had no idea.
According to Ernest Borgnine in his biography, there was a violent argument between him and director Lewis Gilbert during the shooting of this film, because Borgnine asked something about a young actor in the cast.